“Hot metal is supplied to Chertal from the six blast
furnaces of the Esperance-Longdoz plant at Seraing,
some 14 miles distant on the other side of Liege. In
order to provide transport on the lines of the Belgian
National Railway, it was necessary to design special
torpedo-type ladle cars. These cars can carry 165
tons of hot metal, but because of the heavy weight
of the refractories, the total car weight is about 330
tons. In order not to exceed the maximum permitted
railway load limit, it was necessary that the length
of the ladle cars be 31 meters. However, the mass of
hot metal is concentrated in the central part of the
torpedo ladle with the largest cross-section so as to
minimize the heat loss.” (1/1964, JOURNAL OF METALS)
The cars where manufactured by German DEMAG company.

on State Street in Clairton,PA. These bars where mostly attended by black steel workers from the nearby U.S. Steel plant. I visited Clairton with my 4×5″ in 2008. In the background you can see the 800-oven coking plant of U.S. Steel, one of the largest worldwide.